[Synopsis]:As part of stability operations, U.S. Army personnel have become increasingly involved in providing assistance to support economic and infrastructure development. Officers in Afghanistan and Iraq have had to select and implement assistance programs in their areas of operation. In many instances, they have neither the background nor the training to make informed decisions about which programs to support and how to go about implementing them. They therefore need better guidance on how to make such decisions, as well as a better understanding of the economic context of their efforts. While the U.S. government has produced such guidance for use at the national level, that work lacks sufficient detail on tasks appropriate for military forces. The Army askedRAND Arroyo Centerto produce a guidebook for unit commanders that could be used by units deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan to help Army personnel more effectively use economic assistance to support economic and infrastructure development. The result of the Army’s request was an Arroyo publication,Guidebook for Supporting Economic Development in Stability Operations, designed for unit commanders at the brigade level and below.